A Long Drive From Kansas

By

Joseph B. White

Updated Aug. 10, 2000 12:03 a.m. ET

T he sudden rise of industries devoted to the Internet and personal computer often provokes journalists and business historians to wonder: Has anything like this happened before? Actually, it has. The creation of the automobile industry at the turn of the 20th century was just as sudden and momentous -- if not more so.

The parallels are inexact but fun to consider. Both the computer and auto industries took off when innovators found their way to the mainstream with brilliant products -- Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak with...